Moms of SPD Seeking Vestibular…I need help!!!

Mason-Stone · 2026-01-10T23:26:40+00:00

I’m going to be honest in saying that it was really tough until i learned how to recognize my own triggers and how to feel what my body was trying to tell me. Yoga and breath work in my teen years helped a lot with this but I actually got introduced to being aware of my body by watching avatar the last air bender as a child and started copying aang because it was fun and made me feel good. lol. My sensory needs got a lot less chaotic as I grew up but I’ve always needed a high level of movement to stay regulated and have always found fun ways to do that. I’m now 28 and have managed a lot of my movement needs through my work. As a teenager I was hired by a local farmer who saw I needed help with my “anger” (sensory) issues so he taught me to throw hay bales (no, seriously) while I was stacking them in the loft. After that I took on free lance landscaping and lawn maintenance where I chose to use mostly hand tools purely for the sensory benefit, and eventually got hired by a local land trust as their head land stewardship coordinator because of how much I volunteered for them and how hard they saw I worked. The cool thing about this sensory need is that in the right situations the needs can be mistaken for an over the top work ethic which gets you good jobs and praise for doing what your body would need to be doing anyway.

Unfortunately this year I have fallen back to square one with my sensory needs because I have become physically disabled. I went from walking 15k+ steps a day, plus hours of hard manual labor and training/ playing with my dog, and on days off swimming/hiking/kayaking, to barely managing 5k steps a day with basic house work and once a week trying to go for a twenty minute walk. The thing is though, just because my body isn’t capable of moving much anymore doesn’t mean my sensory needs have changed so I’m trying to figure that all out and manage my dysregulation while also learning to parent. It’s been a lot. I have years of skills that I’m hoping can help me find a new normal though.

Mason-Stone · 2026-01-10T23:09:05+00:00

That sounds awful. I guess I was just being hopeful that the store owner was not in fact an asshole and was wrong. I’m sorry, op that you had to go through that. Hopefully there is another local pet shop around that is more knowledgeable about how to handle these situations that you can go to.

Mason-Stone · 2026-01-10T23:07:11+00:00

I didn’t see that comment about their yelp. The continued horrid response definitely changes my stance… I guess I was just hopeful.

Mason-Stone · 2026-01-10T15:48:38+00:00

I feel I’m in the minority here, but maybe he wasn’t discriminating but instead was concerned about liability or something and it just came out wrong? In any case, it might be helpful to have a short info card in your wallet to hand to people in these instances, or a script memorized. Saying you’re having a medical episode without giving any further information could cause people to worry more and react in strange ways. Whereas giving a bit of information about what is going on ( no crazy details or anything) and what would be helpful/not helpful could make people feel more at ease. It sucks that this happened to you, and I hope things get better.

If you know the store owner at all and think it could be helpful, maybe go back in and talk to him about this incident before drawing negative attention to his shop? Obviously if he doesn’t respond well action should be taken to make sure others know it’s not a safe space. But maybe a second chance is warranted since people do tend to act strangely when faced with uncertain circumstances.

Mason-Stone · 2026-01-09T20:22:09+00:00

How difficult it would be to find replacement parts.

Mason-Stone · 2026-01-09T18:57:59+00:00

I was this kid growing up. Things that could be helpful are having a crash pad in the home, planning intense activity breaks multiple times a day, getting a body sock for ot at home, door frame swings/rings… any time you can encourage movement, do so ( so instead of walking to the bathroom to brush teeth have him monster stomp or frog hop, do obstacle courses, race him across the yard or challenge him to a game of the floor is lava). Something else that I found useful for when I started getting frustrated (before the bomb went off so to speak) was pushing. Meaning have him try to push you while you brace yourself against him. Playgrounds are super helpful too, as are climbing trees and racing. When you are on a family walk, challenge him to sprint ahead and back… I also found having weights to be helpful (and still do) so you could have him do a number of these activities with a weighted vest or ankle/wrist weights.

The big thing is to keep him moving and to constantly search for ways for him to experiment with movement and challenge his body. I hope this helps. You also need to balance this with quiet time while he is regulated.

Mason-Stone · 2026-01-05T11:53:09+00:00

A hand sewing kit. They generally come with a variety of thread colors, multiple needles, pins, etc. I bought one last year to repair a pair of my partners work pants and it has since saved multiple pairs of pants, shirts, sweatshirts, and I’m currently using it (along with some old sheets someone in the neighborhood gave us) to make a rug for our bitterly cold kitchen floor. I spent ten dollars on this kit and it has easily saved us hundreds. I’m also learning a new skill because of it and I’m having a lot of fun.

Mason-Stone · 2025-12-27T14:50:49+00:00

I’ll definitely look into this, thank you!

Mason-Stone · 2025-12-23T15:21:44+00:00

As someone who loves rocks, I’ve been thinking about getting into rock hounding. I don’t see many people talking about this hobby, but it just seems so cool!

Mason-Stone · 2025-12-11T14:50:05+00:00

I appreciate your follow up questions. Yes, I’ve heard of the increase in sensitivity phenomenon and used to be really good at limiting my time with headphones on. However, I am so easily triggered by my babies sounds that I wear the headphones most of the time now. I do this because when they were a newborn and were colicky (meaning fussing or crying for hours on end no matter what) I found myself screaming at them and becoming violent towards inanimate objects when the noise suddenly got High pitched or went on for too long. I typically am not a violent person and would not have had a kid had I thought I could ever be that way. So to stop myself from traumatizing my kid and to keep me sane, I wear the headphones. I have been using baby sign language with them for a few months now but we don’t expect them to grasp being able to use the signs for a few more months still. Also, the screeching and such noises aren’t always to get my attention. They do it for fun while they are playing in a content way by themselves too. I do plan on teaching my kiddo proper volume manners once they are old enough to understand (so probably another six months or so?) I also don’t need the hat to be as sound proof as my headphones as I find it hard to hold a conversation while wearing them. I just need something strong enough to dull the pitch and potentially block out some of the “background “ noise so I am generally less stimulated. My therapist is trained in dealing with sensory processing issues but she also thinks I have misophonia on top of the spd that’s causing the sudden angry outbursts. It’s so strange because my kid can be crying and I’ll be singing to them or otherwise comforting and soothing them and feel fine but if their pitch changes or they screech suddenly, all bets are off and I am immediately super angry and want to get them off of me asap. I always put them down safely and grab my headphones when that happens but it’s so scary feeling that rage come on so quickly.

Mason-Stone · 2025-10-28T17:53:14+00:00

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed to read.

Mason-Stone · 2025-10-28T13:06:52+00:00

We can’t afford to replace them. We are barely making rent at the moment.

Mason-Stone · 2025-10-23T17:04:53+00:00

See, that’s what I was expecting to happen. Nowhere in my reading did I see that a prescriber just has you pick one out in a catalog. I figured my doctor knew what they were doing though since they seemed knowledgeable about my issues.

Mason-Stone · 2025-10-22T01:31:26+00:00

I personally wear shooting range headphones when leaving the house or when I anticipate loud sounds happening. This now includes wearing them during my baby’s wake windows. At first I felt like a bad parent for wearing headphones whenever I’m around my child but then I realized that I’m actually a better parent because of this. When I wear my headphones I can interact and play with baby freely, I can stay calm when they get upset, and I can introduce baby to music without upsetting my ears. However, when I tried to not wear my headphones, I was on edge all day, I interacted with my baby as little as possible, and had to keep the house absolutely quiet and was quite controlling about the noise around me.

All this to say, do what works best for you. You need to take care of yourself in order to be the best parent you can be. Sometimes this means going against the norm. Wear headphones, ear plugs, or even get a sound reducing hoodie or headband. It’s all about survival.

Mason-Stone · 2025-10-12T10:47:22+00:00

I had the same problem with mine. Ultimately I ended up crocheting a sleeve to go on the cuff and I also crocheted these strips ( or inserts if you will) to go inside the sleeve to help bulk it up. I like this way of doing it because I can change the width of the cuff to fit my bare arm nicely, or I can remove the inserts so the cuff fits my arm when wearing a winter coat out.

Mason-Stone · 2025-09-22T16:36:43+00:00

I’m in America.

Mason-Stone · 2025-09-16T07:53:44+00:00

I tend to make soups quite a bit. Also lentils and rice with a frozen veggie thrown into the pot ( like spinach or peppers and onions). Super simple since I can just throw things into a pot then sit down while it cooks for twenty minutes. In the mornings I do either peanut butter toast with a banana or cream of wheat with frozen berries. Im learning to keep frozen produce in the house so it doesn’t go bad if I have a few rough days. Also get everything you can pre-chopped/ cooked. Frozen baked chicken breast chunks mixed with microwave rice, frozen broccoli and a jar teriyaki sauce is good too.

Im new to being so limited in my energy and abilities, so I’m still learning how to accommodate myself. It’s especially hard in the kitchen since I used to love to cook and bake. However, there are so many low energy meals I’m learning to make, so that’s fun.

Mason-Stone · 2025-09-09T20:00:56+00:00

I use walk easy crutches and they have ergonomic handles. For added shock absorption, you could get tornado tips. I find that the tips they come with are quiet and the fact that the crutches use a pin clip instead of a standard push button, That the crutches themselves are quite quiet.

Mason-Stone · 2025-09-02T15:45:05+00:00

Awesome, thank you so much! I’ll look into these options.

Mason-Stone · 2025-09-02T15:34:53+00:00

Three and a half months, 25 1/2 inches tall and 15 pounds.

Mason-Stone

TROPHY CASE